A-Rank Dungeon - ??? Apocalypse (9)

“Guess it really is mayor-level authority—everything’s unlocked.”

The programmer operating the machine spoke.

“Like we checked earlier, we still can’t command the city’s monster forces… but we can control the monsters inside this building.”

“Then we just confirm what’s left and shut them all down.”

One teammate spoke up.

“Should we do it right now?”

The programmer asked.

“Isn’t it better to do it immediately if we can?”

“Wait—before that, shouldn’t we gather them into one place?”

“Oh, right. If self-destruction works, it doesn’t matter, but if it doesn’t, we’ll have to hunt them down one by one and finish them off…”

“Then I’ll check the self-destruction function first.”

Hearing the discussion, the programmer manipulated the machine again.

“It’s here.”

Pointing at the screen, the programmer said. A manual was displayed: in an emergency, it would erase all data and destroy the power source.

“If we can execute it as-is, we can just do that.”

As one teammate said so, agreement came from all around. Hyeonseong thought the same.

‘And she doesn’t look like she’s against it either.’

Even Kwon Seojin stayed quiet—seemed like there was nothing to butt in on.

“Alright, I’m doing it.”

The programmer executed the self-destruction manual. A message appeared saying the manual was being executed.

Then the screen switched to a status list of the robots still remaining in the building—because the programmer had changed the view.

The number of robots left in the building dropped rapidly. As the count shrank, the self-destruction speed slowed, but it didn’t stop.

Before long, the remaining count reached zero.

“I’ll verify one more time, just to be sure.”

The programmer adjusted the screen again. He tried several functions for commanding robots inside the building, but every one returned the same message: there were no valid targets to receive orders.

“Looks like it worked.”

“Then…”

“At least until we leave this building, we’re safe.”

A few lines of conversation passed. Teammates finally exhaled.

‘…Something’s off. Why is that staying quiet?’

Hyeonseong’s eyes went to the machine labeled the central management system.

‘It should be alive, but it’s letting the intruders run around right in front of it. What’s it aiming for?’

Once the uneasy feeling surfaced, it wouldn’t go away.

“Then I’ll check how we get to the command center.”

The programmer worked the machine again. Text and diagrams appeared. Hyeonseong quickly scanned what was shown.

‘Walking there would be rough, wouldn’t it?’

According to the display, the command center was in a far-out outskirts area.

In straight-line distance it wasn’t that far, but once you considered the city layout and all the active monsters, walking looked like a bad idea.

‘If we walk, we’ll detour constantly—and more importantly, we’ll have to fight monsters one by one. It’d be best if we had some kind of transport.’

Thinking that, Hyeonseong looked at the programmer.

“Is there any transportation we can use right now?”

At the question, the programmer adjusted the screen again. Available transportation options appeared.

‘As expected, there’s nothing like an airship… and only that one works?’

There was exactly one transportation system they could switch to active status.

‘An aerial railway…’

Hyeonseong frowned.

Even the underground metro was locked out. Yet this one thing remained open.

‘This is going to be exhausting to defend.’

It was obvious someone was forcing their hand.

But there was no better option.

“We don’t have a choice. Activate that.”

Hyeonseong pointed at the aerial rail line. With no objections, the train was activated immediately.

“Anything else we should confirm?”

The programmer asked while adjusting the operation settings.

“Are we sure we can’t control monsters from here?”

“What about traps we should watch out for…?”

Questions flew in. As the programmer answered, information appeared on the screen.

“Yeah, still can’t do that. As for traps, things like…”

“We can’t control them, but we can at least check force status, right?”

“That part—you can see it here…”

“What about that?”

Listening to the back-and-forth, Hyeonseong pointed at the central system.

“Is there no way to stop that thing itself?”

Leaving it running felt wrong. If there was any way to handle it, they should do it now.

“Uh… looks like there isn’t.”

After flipping through several menus, the programmer shook his head. There wasn’t even a relevant option.

Two infuriating messages appeared.

‘They didn’t mess with it… right?’

For a moment, anger flared—then she forced herself calm.

If the Constellations had interfered mid-way, the network would have notified them. So it had to be unmanageable from the start.

‘If it can’t be done, it can’t be done.’

She briefly considered overloading it with information processing, but it wasn’t realistic right now.

It was a system managing an entire giant city. The volume of information needed to overload something at that level wouldn’t be trivial.

“So there’s nothing else to check, right?”

The programmer asked.

“Yeah. Nothing.”

Hyeonseong answered. Thanks to the other teammates’ questions, they already had what they needed.

“If we’re done, let’s head down.”

Teammates spoke.

There was nothing else they could do here. It was time to leave the building.

Lastly, Hyeonseong pulled out and pocketed the card that could act under the mayor’s authority. There was a strong chance they’d need it at the command center or another facility.

With the card secured, Hyeonseong took one last look at the central system and left the room.

The path back outside was peaceful—though not in terms of what they saw.

‘This is… not a pleasant sight.’

Hyeonseong frowned at robots scattered across the floor like trash.

Robots and drones that looked purely mechanical were fine.

But androids—so close to human in shape—lying among heaps of scrap made her stomach turn.

‘It looks like the scene of an accident…’

The ugly thought rose on its own, and Hyeonseong shook her head. This wasn’t the time for that.

‘…Focus on the work.’

To push the thoughts away, she concentrated on collecting loot.

Anything among the robot wreckage that could be taken as an item was absorbed into her Infinite Corridor.

‘If I dump all of this at once, will it crash the market price on machine parts and specialty alloys for a while?’

Watching her item list grow, even that pointless thought drifted through her head.

“We’re almost outside—regroup!”

As they neared the corridor leading to the station, the support members shouted. The field debuff, which had been suppressed while they climbed into the upper floors, would apply again once they left the building.

When the team clustered around the supports, protective skills spread out again. The moment they stepped into the corridor, a message appeared that they had entered the debuff zone.

“Before we board, listen up!”

Hyeonseong raised her voice.

“From departure until we reach the command center, focus on movement and defense as much as possible. Avoid head-on fights whenever you can.”

You couldn’t engage in full-scale combat on a moving train.

It wasn’t a stable fighting environment, and if things went wrong, they could damage the train or the rail line.

So until arrival, their priority had to be protecting the train and tracks.

“Movement and defense, right?”

“Then we should split roles around that.”

After answering, the team divided tasks.

Those with wide-area defensive skills focused purely on shielding, while those with long-range attacks handled harassment fire.

Close-range fighters stayed inside on standby, or took the roof to deal with monsters that came in too close.

“Then what will you do, Kwon Seojin?”

Hyeonseong asked last.

She was nominally here as a gatherer, but wasting that level of physical combat power would be foolish.

“I’ll move based on the situation.”

The reply came immediately.

“Alright. Do that.”

Hyeonseong nodded. With Seojin’s capability and equipment, he could cover both ranged pressure and close combat.

So being flexible was the right call.

‘Must be nice to be good at everything.’

A petty thought brushed past, but Hyeonseong didn’t show it.

In this situation, Seojin was undeniably useful.

They crossed the corridor and arrived at the station. It didn’t take long to reach the platform where the train waited.

They found the train and boarded immediately.

“Boarding itself seems fine, but…”

“Yeah. This layout isn’t great for fighting.”

Teammates commented.

The interior had paired seats lined in rows along both side walls.

The aisle was narrow, and the gap between rows wasn’t wide—hardly ideal for serious melee combat.

“It can’t be helped. There isn’t another train.”

“At least we don’t have to split across cars.”

“Everyone, take positions.”

They settled into roles.

Hyeonseong headed to the engine compartment with the engineer and programmer. That would be her station.

“Ahem—can you hear me?”

While the engineer checked the train controls with a skill, Hyeonseong broadcast to the passenger cars.

“We’re departing soon, so sit down or grab onto something. And the moment we leave the station, there’s a high chance we’ll get hit, so stay ready.”

On the monitors showing the cabin, she saw teammates moving.

It looked like preparations were done, so she glanced at the engineer. The engineer nodded.

“Alright. We’re departing now.”

The moment Hyeonseong finished the announcement, the train began moving.

Uwoong—

With a low vibration, the train accelerated and shot out of the station in an instant.

Pueong—!

Tududududududu

And the moment they cleared the station, an attack poured in.

Block it!

To the side!

Shouts erupted from the passenger cars. Defensive skills spread across the train’s exterior.

Teo-eong—

Jjaenggang—

Bullets and beam attacks slammed into the shields.

Several barriers shattered with loud crashes.

Over there!

Move!

As new barriers deployed, some teammates opened windows.

KWA-AANG!

Pung—!

Ranged attacks fired through the open windows.

Magic and aura shots slipped past the shields and destroyed several combat robots and drones.

‘That one’s on me.’

Hyeonseong didn’t stay idle either.

Beyond the window, a battleship was gathering energy in its cannon. Timing it, she opened the Infinite Corridor above the train.

KWAANG—!

The beam, deflected by the Infinite Corridor, swept into another battleship that had been preparing to fire from a different angle.

Black smoke rose from the ship that took the direct hit. Checking the info, it had fallen into a “combat disabled” status.

‘Too bad I didn’t bring it down. So it’s sturdier than I thought.’

Even so, repairing a status ailment would take time. For the battlefield, forcing it out of action was good enough.

‘So far, we’re okay.’

She kept blocking larger attacks with the Infinite Corridor and surveyed the situation.

For how loud it was, it wasn’t overwhelmingly difficult—likely because they’d recovered stamina and mana thoroughly on the way down the building.

‘The problem is, it looks like they’re about to concentrate everything on the front.’

Through the monitor, Hyeonseong checked the condition of each car.

Bombardment was hitting even the empty cars. The last car was already split in half from shelling.

But attacks on the rear cars had been decreasing. The monsters had realized no one was there.

And now, having lost interest in the rear, they were all shifting their focus forward.

‘They might not just shoot—they could stick to the train and physically block the line. We need a way to shove them all off at once.’

With the Infinite Corridor’s properties, she might be able to push back one frontal direction.

But the issue was any situation requiring multiple directions, or lateral clearing.

‘Those folks’ skills won’t be enough.’

She couldn’t just dump it on the team either.

To produce that kind of impact, someone would need a strong skill with a casting time.

And right now, they didn’t have the breathing room to prepare one.

‘If our harassment fire gaps for even a moment, they’ll smash the rails or the engine room immediately.’

Pueong—!

Kwagwagwang!

Even while thinking, Hyeonseong didn’t slack on defense.

Several small fighters and drones exploded after being struck by deflected beam fire.

‘A way to shove them with brute force or deal a heavy blow…’

She was about to sink into thought again—

‘Huh?’

A train was racing toward them on the opposite track.

That wasn’t strange. When they activated the rail system from the central building, they had to activate the whole network first.

And since they hadn’t bothered to stop the other trains afterward, it made sense for an empty train to be running the line.

‘Wait.’

Seeing the other train approaching at high speed, an idea flashed through her mind.

Hyeonseong spread the Infinite Corridor toward the nose of the oncoming train.